Friday, January 18, 2013

Bruce Arians' first HC job was at TU in 1982 and now, 30 years later, gets his next one.

Round and round the coaching Merry-Go-Round goes and where it stops nobody knows.
Well, at least until a couple of hours ago.
For those who have Temple football connections, it appears to have stopped for awhile now.
Former North Carolina offensive coordinator John Shoop is actively seeking a NFL job. If he doesn't get one, he reportedly told Matt Rhule he will accept Rhule's offer to be OC.
Geez, I hope he gets an NFL job because I don't really want someone here who says, "Well, if nothing pans out, I'll have to take the Temple job, honey."

Snow's defenses gave up 44 points per game in 2010 and 38points per game in 2012.

I'd rather have Marty Mornhinweg. First, he lives here already, his kid went to St. Joseph's Prep and his presence might beget a five-star quarterback named Skyler Mornhinweg, currently at Florida.
When was the last time Temple recruited a five-star quarterback?
(Answer: Paulsboro's Kevin Harvey, recruited by Ron Dickerson.)
Instead, Temple fans will end up with a DC, Phil Snow, whose best days were in the last century at Arizona State. Since 1996, his defenses have not posted a single shutout or had more than three games (in 72 tries) of limiting FBS foes to single-digits. He's lost a lot off his fastball. In Snow, Rhule sees the 1952 Robin Roberts, not the 1967 Roberts, who ended his career with the Reading Phillies. I hope I'm wrong, but I see similar decline in important career numbers with Snow.
I must admit, after hearing names like Bill Cubit, Nick Rolovich and Nick Rapone thrown out there, ending up with Marcus Satterfield and Phil Snow as Rhule's top two lieutenants is a bit underwhelming.

In the pros, former Temple head coach Bruce Arians landed as head coach for the Arizona Cardinals. To me, that's the hire of the NFL year and Bruce having coached at Temple has really nothing to do with it.
Was there a candidate out there with two Super Bowls under his belt as an OC, a reputation of turning young quarterbacks into all-pros and someone who turned a losing culture into a winner as a head coach?

I think Rhule is in love with the 2001 Snow, not the Snow of 11 years later. If you take a step back and look at Snow's resume objectively, he has not done much since 2001. He had a decent year for a non-winning Eastern Michigan team in 2011, but even then the Hurons didn't limit any offense under double-digits.
I think Satterfield could be very, very good but I don't know for sure.
But Rhule built that squeaky bed and now he'll have to sleep on it.
In the pros, former Temple head coach Bruce Arians landed as head coach for the Arizona Cardinals. To me, that's the hire of the NFL year and Bruce having coached at Temple has really nothing to do with it.

"Coaching is relationship-buildingnot just great playersbut ballboys, managerskids at Temple that I stillstay in touch with todayand they are my family."_Bruce Arianshead coachArizona Cardinals

Was there a candidate out there with two Super Bowls under his belt as an OC, a reputation of turning young quarterbacks into all-pros and someone who turned a losing culture into a winner as a head coach?
Other than Bruce, who got his last full-time head-coaching gig 30 years ago, I know there wasn't.
I can't imagine Chip Kelly bringing much more than suspect college assistants to Philadelphia.
Arians' 20 years of contacts is going to build a solid NFL-ready staff and his first staff member is Todd Bowles, a former Owl player of his, as DC.
Good move by Bruce.
Bowles was unfairly blamed for the Eagles' defensive woes because he inherited a backfield that was on strike and bereft of talent all season. Bowles will have plenty of defensive talent in Arizona.
Speaking of Bowles, had he been hired as Temple head coach head coach instead of Rhule, his two coordinators would have been Mornhinweg and Rapone. That would have given Temple a guy who posted 11 shutouts since Snow's last one as DC, an NFL OC and (possibly) a five-star QB recruit.
A little birdie, a red one, told me.
Funny what happens on the coaching Merry-Go-Round before it comes to a complete stop.

13 comments:

just got this comment via email from Marcus, my answer will be in a different comment box below that:

Mike,

I feel guilty. Very guilty. Spoiled too. I've been reading your blog ever since I came to Temple 3 years ago and have been following the football program for the past 4 years. I've been spoiled by the excess of riches the program has had during that time, with multiple 8-win seasons and a passionate and articulate writer at TFF. I say this only because I really need a reason to get excited for this next season. I hear a lot of talk about how Temple is going to turn things around and how they're committed to the program and all that, but from my end it looks like a lot of noise to distract me from the real issue: I don't think anyone really has a good idea of what they're doing on the football program. It hurts even more when I hear you talk about guys like Bruce Arians, Todd Bowles, Chuck Heater, Nick Rolovich and Nick Rapone and how we have none of them now for one bizarre reason or another.

I was in Las Vegas for New Years celebrating with my family and of course college football is a big topic. My dad's a big Ohio State fan and my older brother went to Georgia Tech. Trying to stay relevant with these two programs is extremely hard, especially since they both have strong, dedicated fanbases and the blessing of regular E$PN coverage. Not to say I would trade Temple Football for either, but I felt pretty good when I gushed to them (at the time) about how we were going to have Heater and Rolovich, and how 'Daz was taken off of our hands. They were mightily impressed and were actually curious to see how far Temple could go, even in the New Big East/Conference USA 2.0. We had a phenomenal D-Coordinator, the heir-apparent to the dynamic pistol offense, and a head coach that might very well sit back and let those guys do their jobs while he takes care of the other things. I was only fine with Rhule after you convincingly argued that an "internship" with one of the most stable NFL franchises led by what I believe to be one of the greatest head coaches ever in Tom Coughlin is more important that his actual position on the coaching staff.

Now it feels like a joke that's gone on too long. An assistant position coach is our head coach, and we're grabbing the leftovers from mediocre programs.

Why am I excited for this product next year? Honestly, I'm starting to question why recruits would want to play for this team with coaches like this. Do the coaches even care? Do they just want "a job," and this one at Temple is open so... it's better than being unemployed? Please change my mind on this Mike, I know if anyone can, it's you.

I walked out of that initial Matt Rhule press conference on Cloud 9, thinking Bill Bradshaw got a difficult right because Matt said all the right things.

And, in many respects, BB did.There were 105 fragile ego guys in there who really needed the kind of stability MR gave them.The parents and the players really pushed for MR.I wanted a more accomplished head coach with a solid resume and the kind of contacts that would put together a great staff.Since that presser a month ago, all of the RIGHT things Matt said were followed by "WTF" decisions:1) Not keeping Heater (I realize he wanted Chuck to stay and it might have been out of his hands);2) Hiring a guy to be DC who has a RECENT record of giving up points like candy on Halloween night;3) Allowing an OC to tell him, "I'll get back to you if I don't get one of these NFL jobs first"

People say, "Mike, give the guy a chance."I would have been thrilled if he took the recommendation of every Temple player and hired Nick Rapone. That would have got me pumped up. It would have gotten the entire Temple community pumped up.Now, I'm not down on the guy, but I'm really, really skeptical.He better win and win big this season. I was expecting 7 wins from Daz. I'm holding him to the same standard.

Mike, I'm really beginning to fear that TU managed to catch lightning in a bottle with Al Golden and we are slowly moving back to more of the Ron Dickerson, Jerry Berndt, Bobby Wallace era. I'm ok with the potential OC looking at the NFL first but I think TU should give him a deadline in which to make a decision. I understand what you are saying about Snow but given he success in the past I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt in that he really should be working with better talent here then at EMU

Thanks for getting back to me. I guess I don't blame the hire after understanding the "wanting to be wanted" feeling. Still doesn't make me particularly excited for this next year.

It's really strange. If Daz had just left and we got these guys, I might have just given them a chance, as anyone was better than Daz, and I probably expected Heater to leave anyway. After seeing the list of names we had at our disposal, though, I still feel fooled and disappointed at the potential. Good to know you wear your feelings on your sleeve and I can trust what you say, MIke. I would say I'm looking forward to next season, but that would be dishonest - I'll just say I'm looking forward to your insights and any surprises that are in store.

If Snow posts one (just one) shutout next season over a team not named Fordham, I will publicly apologize to Matt Rhule is a long post next season.It shouldn't be too hard since Heater posted shutouts in consecutive weeks in 2011 but since Snow hasn't pitched a shutout since 1996, I'll take that chance.Gosh, I hope Temple gets 12 shutouts but I have to ask myself why offenses who have played against his teams the last three years have turned scoreboards into adding machines?I know Snow is Matt's buddy, but sometimes you've got to step away from the buddy system and hire someone you don't know but comes highly recommended by others and has a RECENT history of stopping modern offensive football schemes on a consistent basis.Bruce Arians swears by Nick Rapone as does EVERY Temple player who ever played for the guy.If not Nick, then why not Tom Bradley.Heck, Matt must've known Tom Bradley and Bradley's record as being a great DC. Since Bradley is unemployed, I think he would have taken the Temple job.It's done all the time in the business world.I really think he swung and missed with this hire. I hope Snow is on a very short leash.

Whoops. I see that Philly TU Grad's comment is in there. When I deleted my own comment, I didn't delete his.Thank God, because it was a good one.This MR hiring in tottering on the precipice or falling off the Mountain completely.I don't think Matt will let it fail.I'm sure Marcus Satterfield will find ways to put points on the board and the good thing about Matt compared to Dickerson and the other guys is that he has a solid knowledge of the defensive side (both as a DL coach and a LB coach) of the ball as well as the offensive side.If he's got to spend nights in the E-O pouring over defensive film to see if guys are being put in the right positions to succeed, he will.

BP: one of my favorite Temple players ever, if not my most favorite. His mom and family sought me out under the concourse of the Linc, grabbed my arm, introduced themselves in BP's freshman year."Geez, my favorite player," I gushed."The Franchise.""We know and thank you for all of the good things you wrote about him."Tried to talk BP out of leaving before he made up his mind, but he said the OL graduating made it an easy decision.Montel did OK behind that line, though.

I think it is time to really re-calibrate just were Temple is. I will point out an example of just how far Temple is from the big time. Mike you often point out the 10 million dollar football building Temple just built. While that facility is very nice, Michigan just upgraded their facilities (all sports not just football) to the tune of 250 million. The scary thing is their previous facilities were already probably better than Temple's. As much as I want to see Temple get better, the fact remains is we are historically not a great program. In order to change that we need to go in a different direction. We are never going to top the big boys and that is why going the NFL coach route will never work. We need to take chances, we need innovation, we need guerrilla warfare. We truly need to become the Boise State of the East and unfortunately I don't see this coaching staff doing it.

Rivals.com and Scout.com aren't the only recruiting services. 247.com, historically a better indicator of talent, had him listed as a five-star when he committed to Penn State, then lowered it when he de-committed for Florida. Truth is, both Skyler and PSU recruit Christian Hackenburg would look good in Cherry and White. I'm happy with have P.J., though, but the QB class after Newsome, Coyer and Juice leave.Don't know why Hackenburg would stay at PSU when they only have 15 schollies in the next four years. They won't use a lot of those on OLs. He could be running for his life. Temple looks set the next couple of seasons for OL.I hope MR uses this 10-schollie advantage to overtake PSU.

Last donation: 7/9/2013 (thanks Joe S., Primos, Pa.)
We realize it is a lousy economy for almost all TU grads not named Bill Cosby but would sincerely appreciate any contributions. Pay pal asks for a phone number, but they do that for all transactions and have a firm policy of never selling or using those numbers.

Trying to unload my AG Bobblehead

Totally strapped for cash

... and will give up my Al Shrier Bobblehead for $55. Don't want to do it, but contact me at templefootballforever@gmail.com

Help TFF afford a pair of shoes

Either contribute via the paypal donor button (in the Support Temple Football Forever section on the sidebar) or send a check to Mike Gibson, c.o 1501 Creswood Road, Philadelphia, PA 19115-3110

Your ad ABOVE this one for $100 a month

Support Sharpe Marketing Concepts, conveniently located in East Norriton and run by friend of TFF, Tom Sharpe. Drive TU fans to your business with a display ad like this one, all while supporting TFF. Merely click on the logo to get to the website. We're on a mission, man, to build the local economy by driving TU fans to other TU entreprenerus. To jumpstart your business, write: templefootballforever@gmail.com

What would you like to say to Daz right now?

Deitch says it all here:

Wish I could take credit for this funny line.

Loading...

College Football Data Warehouse

... all the scores from all the years

CBS Gives TFF Some Love

Positive TFF mention on Deadspin.com

TFF and Owls .. winning together

Quotable

"I can't promise you much but I'm going to promise you one thing as I stand in front of you today: I'm going to give you guys the same commitment, the same trust, the same work ethic that we as a university demand from you.. ... I wanted to sign a 10-year, a 20-year contract here, but Bill wouldn't let me."
_ Matt Rhule, head football coach
Temple University

"After talking with Bill (Bradshaw), I was pumped up about coming back. But then I realized that, for now at least, the NFL is where I want to be. There is no doubt in my mind that you can have a winning program at Temple. No doubt whatsoever. There's no comparison between what they have now and what I had when I was there."
_ Former Temple head coach Bruce Arians, now interim head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, upon withdrawing his name for consideration for the Temple head coaching job on Dec. 1, 2005; a week later, Al Golden was named head coach
Bruce Arians vs. winning MAC teams:5-0
Temple 35, Toledo 6
Temple 49, Western Michigan 17
Temple 23, Akron 3
Temple 13, Toledo 12
Temple 37, Akron 17Al Golden vs. winning MAC teams: 0-14

"It's very difficult for us to represent to our students that this is a first-rate University without providing the experiences that are offered elsewhere. A great football team, a great basketball team, a great dance program [among other things] . . . our students are entitled to all of that and we will provide it."
_ the late Howard Gittis, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Temple University

"Temple's success in 1A football would clearly help its image. Immediate positive public identification with Temple as a whole is what we're talking about. .... Temple's overall image has been boosted by the success of men's basketball led by Coach Chaney. Success in 1A football would have a far greater impact nationally than basketball (or virtually anything else) in developing the University's overall image. . ...Universities with 1A football programs must invest to succeed ..."
_ Peter J. Liacouras, Chancellor, Temple University

TU students please watch this

TU Fight Song

Quote of the Year
... "It's a cool coincidence that my dad went to Temple, but he could have gone to Florida, USC or Alabama and I'd still be going to Temple. I know that's where I want to be." _ All-American first-team kicker Jim Cooper, Jr....
... Lincoln Financial FieldHome of The OwlsWhat they're writing about our website
Temple Football Forever got a mention on the popular sports website, Deadspin.com, after the Bowling Green win.

This, too, from Black Shoes Diaries, another popular college football website, nominating TUFBF for a best blog award.What the fans are saying about us ....
". ... you are DEAD on as usual. Al Golden should hire you as his Director of Common (Football) Sense. Maybe even call you on your cell phone during a timeout with 2 minutes left in a game."
_ Sal The Owl, OwlsDaily.com, Nov. 30, 2008
". ... I consider (Temple Football Forever) the final word for Temple football postgame analysis."
_ BroadStreetLeon, Owlscoop.com, Nov. 14, 2008
What they're saying about the Owls:
"That first half was no fluke. Temple is a very good team and nobody knows more than we do how fortunate we were to win that game."
_ UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, talking about Temple's 21-10 lead at the half
“Give Temple credit. A lot of that was all the third and twos we couldn’t convert. We have been converting those in the past. ... but they beat our guys up front.”
_Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo, after Temple's win in Annapolis

"I knew Temple had a very special team. We thought they would be the best team we saw all year. In hindsight, they were."
_ Villanova coach Andy Talley, unsolicited, in the press conference after beating Montana for the FCS National Championship

Now ...

American Athletic Conference Forum

Temple delivers the Philly TV market

Bowl numbers vs. UCLA 2d highest ever

Former Temple recruiting coordinator Mike Gibson

No relation... but was introduced to him by Jerry Berndt, who said to the coach, "Mike, this is Mike Gibson. If you hear Rollie Massimino complaining about you on the radio, it's not you. It's this guy."

About Me

A big-time Temple football fan and award-winning journalist, one Keystone and three APSE writing awards in best feature, news story and sports column categories, who became a Temple fan as a kid watching the Owls rip off 14 straight football wins.